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Welcome to the website of World War 3 Illustrated, a semiannual political comix magazine. Since 1980, we have made it our mission to shine a little reality on the fantasy world of the American kleptocracy.

comic book release party

“No idea should be unspeakable. No emotion can be forever repressed. No one is above criticism. But critique, speech, and expression, are only meaningful in relation to the goals of liberating humanity and preserving nature.”

World War 3 Illustrated presents its newest issue at a release party, with an evening of comic performances, music and of course, comics!

Mike Diana, Carlo Quispe, Seth Tobocman, Jenny Gonzalez-Blitz, Hilary Allison, Kenly Dillard, Rebecca Migdal, Eric Blitz, Andy Laties, Angeleyedealism, and Peter Kuper present comics addressing the topics of censorship and repression in all forms, from the banning of works of art to the busting of demonstrations to the self-censorship of our own thoughts.

comic new york

March 24-25
Columbia University
Low Memorial Library
New York, NY

WW3’s Peter Kuper and Sabrina Jones will join an all-star gathering of comics professionals for the Comic New York symposium. The two day event brings together creators and academics to discuss the intertwined histories of American comics and the town where they were born: New York City. From the role of New York as breeding ground for generations of comics talent to the political, periodical, and alternative nature of the comics themselves, the best NYC has to offer celebrates this unique medium.

Check out the program here.

art show opening, comic book release party

World War 3 Illustrated, the independent political comix magazine, presents its new issue, dedicated to the Arab Spring and the spirit of world-wide revolt it has inspired, at a gallery opening exhibiting original art and new work made in conjunction with the Occupy Everywhere movement.

“Tahrir : Liberation from the Mideast to the Midwest,” issue #42 of World War 3 Illustrated, features new stories by cartoonists from Egypt, Lebanon, Kashmir, and Palestine as well as the United Kingdom and across the United States. The editors, Seth Tobocman, Jordan Worley, and Ethan Heitner proudly present new work about the revolution in Egypt by Egyptian cartoonist Magdy El Shaffee, whose graphic novel Metro was banned by the previous Egyptian regime and will be published by MacMillan in 2012 in English.

The opening and release party will feature live performances of pieces from the new issue and a planned live video conference with international artists. The Sixth Street Community Center will also be hosting a month-long exhibit of original art from issue #42 and new work made in response to this fall’s iteration of the global protest movement, with work by: Tayseer Barakat, Jennifer Camper, Sue Coe, Marguerite Dabaie, Molly Fair, Ganzeer, Ethan Heitner, Sabrina Jones, Tom Keough, Peter Kuper, Carlo Quispe, Malik Sajad, Sue Simensky, David Solnit, Nick Thorkelson, Seth Tobocman, Tamara Tornado, and Jordan Worley.

Graphic Radicals is a 30th anniversary retrospective of World War 3 Illustrated, an independently published political comic magazine founded in 1980 by artists Seth Tobocman and Peter Kuper. Comprised of original comics, drawings and paintings, posters, commissioned murals, documentary film, animation and a complete set of issues, Graphic Radicals will be the largest World War 3 exhibition to date and will highlight the history that World War 3 has scrutinized, documented, and participated in for three decades.
World War 3 Illustrated was first established in response to the Iran hostage crisis and impending election of Ronald Reagan and since then has confronted social and political issues ignored by the mainstream press. The magazine is an annual publication produced by a collective of artists with each issue addressing a particular theme. WW3 has covered topics as diverse as the Tompkins Square riot, homelessness, first-person accounts of 9/11, the prison industrial complex, a teachers’ strike in Mexico, Hurricane Katrina rescue efforts and, in the upcoming issue, the food chain.
Critic Lucy Lippard wrote of World War 3 Illustrated that its “ecological and social prophecies are coming to pass, and the apocalyptic vision that gives WW3 its desperate force and unique identity is the present.”

events

Tuesday, December 7 / 7-9pmOpening Night: Issue #41 Release Party
The opening of Graphic Radicals coincides with the release of World War 3 Illustrated: Issue #41 – The Food Chain. Copies of the issue will be available for purchase and artists from the magazine’s long history will be on hand to sign
copies.
Everybody eats … but how do we stop from being eaten? This latest batch of new comics unearths some of the answers and asks the big questions about the food chain, our relationship to it and experiences with it. Featuring work by Jennifer Camper, Sue Coe, Sandy Jimenez, Sabrina Jones, Peter Kuper, Mac McGill, Rebecca Migdal, Seth Tobocman and many others. Edited by Ame Gilbert, Ethan Heitner, Sandy Jimenez, Rebecca Migdal, and Edwin Vazquez.

Friday, January 14 / 7-9pmPicture the Homeless
With artist talks by Seth Tobocman, Mac Mcgill and Rebecca Migdal and
music by Eric Blitz and Andy Laties
Picture the Homeless is a grassroots organization of homeless men and women who fight to impact and change policies and systems on issues that directly effect the homeless population such as housing, police violence, and the shelter industrial complex.

Friday, January 21 / 7-9pmFriends of Brad Will
With artist talks by Peter Kuper, Fly and Susan Simensky Bietila
Friends of Brad Will is a network of activists which promotes enhanced public awareness about the human rights abuses linked to the “war on drugs.” In that context, it works to promote government policies and actions that result in accountability for the murder, in Mexico, of U.S. journalist Brad Will; the release of and end to harassment of innocents and witnesses to his murder, who are being scapegoated with it; and the rejection of Plan Mexico.

Wednesday, January 26 / 7-9pmMilk Not Jails
With artists talks by Sabrina Jones and Kevin Pyle
Milk Not Jails is a consumer campaign to mobilize New York residents to support the dairy industry and the long-term sustainability of the rural economy. It advocates for criminal justice and agriculture policy reform to bring about positive economic growth.

“Graphic Radicals: 30 Years of World War 3 Illustrated” is the real thing, a fully fleshed-out picture.

Best of all, World War 3 Illustrated, like Exit Art, is still alive and well. A new issue, called “The Food Chain,” is out. As always it mixes newcomers and veterans, emphasizes content over style (but has plenty of style), keeps that content accessible and critical, and pays its printers and distributors but no one else.

If it had nothing more than that kind of dedication to recommend it, it would be invaluable. But it has much, much more.